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By Richard Thomas
Score: A-
Japan has its personal idiosyncratic varietals of oak utilized by their whisky business. Mizunara has develop into acquainted with erudite fanatics, because the wooden’s attribute sandalwood notes have discovered a fan following and it sees extra use exterior of Japan.
The odd factor is that even amongst these of us who examine Japanese whisky (however don’t truly dwell in Japan), their use of cherrywood has gone largely unnoticed. I say that’s odd as a result of cherry timber have been recognized with Japan for much longer than anime, Toyota, sushi, katanas and Hi there Kitty. The topic of Japanese woods doesn’t come up usually in dialog, even amongst my colleagues, however when it does come up I by no means hear what’s to me an apparent query: why not cherrywood?
The reply is it’s in use, and outdoors Japan as well. Each Japanese distillery has a cherrywood completed whisky, most just lately Suntory. Over in Eire, each Teeling Whiskey Firm and Irish Distillers with their experimental Methodology And Insanity collection have carried out whiskeys aged in cherrywood. The place fashioning casks from cherrywood is simply too costly, smoking grain with the wooden is an alternate.
Upton Tea Imports has carried out each. They floor a few of these cherrywood whisky barrels into chips and used the chips to smoke Japanese black tea for six to eight hours.
The Tea
This isn’t a powerful cup of morning brew, however extra within the teatime, pick-me-up vein of afternoon teas. It mixes a light tannic streak with a observe akin to a berry-driven crimson wine and a present that’s half-smoke, half-ash. That is fairly distinct from the oak whisky barrel smoked tea I attempted final month, and considerably higher in that it’s extra approachable for people who aren’t absolute smokeheads. The smoky aspect right here is powerful, however reasonable sufficient that people who respect a present of smoke of their barbecue, chili or avenue corn, however are turned off by one thing like Islay single malts, will respect it.
The Value
A 30 gram packet is $38.50, which comes out to $2.89 per cup.
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